The Archaic (Distance)
The Archaic (also known as the anomaly and/or the virus) is the main antagonist of the survival racing game Distance. It is the unknown entity responsible for the array being abandoned and has spread its infection across it, intent on doing the same to earth. History (SPOILERS AHEAD) Pre-Game At some points before the events of the game, the anomaly known as The Archaic was successfully captured by The Array and brought in for inspection. While the origins of the being were never discovered, it was revealed that it was simultaneously technological and organic with a chaotic and unpredictable spread. This could mean that the anomaly is a still-growing organism. Eventually, The Archaic broke out of several containment units, infecting the Array and killing thousands of occupants (possibly including the main administration), and forcing the remaining populace to evacuate. While this led to The Archaic being trapped in the Array, it also allowed it unguarded access to the Array's teleportation technology. When it eventually learned how to use it, it managed to activate it, intending to use it to travel to earth to continue spreading its infection. It is assumed that activating the teleportation systems also unintentionally reactivated the player's spectrum car, leading to the events of the game. Main Campaign The Archaic's physical body had, at this, point, relocated to Sector 1A, where it awaited activation of the teleporter. At this time, the Spectrum (an advanced AI unit built into a car) activated. Presumably a security program, the Spectrum quickly learned of the Archaic's presence and began to travel across sectors of the Array in order to confront it. Unfortunately, the Archaic eventually detected the Spectrum and used its infection powers to try and corrupt its software. In doing so, the Archaic and the Spectrum interacted with each other on multiple occasions, before the Archaic eventually made its hostility clear by attacking the Spectrum while it was hacked. Whether this was a scare tactic or an actual attempt to kill the AI is uncertain, but either way, the Spectrum continued its pursuit. In response, the Archaic used its powers as a virus to create several obstacles around the Array, slowing the Spectrum down, but ultimately not stopping it. In time, the Spectrum physically confronted the Archaic within the teleportation chamber as its activation process neared completion. Refusing to surrender, the virus attacks the AI on sight, attempting to destroy it by absorbing it into itself. This, however, has the opposite effect, as the Spectrum proved too powerful and destroyed the Archaic from the inside, resulting in it exploding seconds before the teleporter activates, allowing the Spectrum to teleport to earth in its place. Biology As stated before, The Archaic is an unknown being, both technological and organic in structure. Its physical body appears to be nothing more than a robotic head, with a symmetrical pattern and a visible face to tell when it'd be facing the player; said face opens up whenever the player gets near in order to attack. The Archaic does not appear capable of speech, as it is only seen communicating through the Array's computers, or through the large shrieking noise it makes when its mouth opens. Nanotechnology is assumed to be the building block for the Archaic's virus; though when observed closely, the underlined material is still undefined, making The Archaic's species (assuming it has one) unknown to even the computers within the Array. It can be assumed, however, that it is alien in origin due to its organic makeup. Personality True to its name, The Archaic is extremely malicious and hostile, especially towards the player. It sees everything foreign around it as a threat and attacks it on sight, mainly by corrupting it either from a distance or by consuming it within itself. The Archaic's motives remain unknown, but it does seem to follow behavioral patterns of a typical virus, spreading its influence across computers and software via infecting them to maintain its dominance. It is presumed that it planned to do the same to earth once it arrived, intending to infect not only the computer systems there but possibly the remains of the planet's ecosystem. Whatever the case, its true motives remain unknown due to its death. Abilities The Archaic's main ability is to infect other technology to serve its own goals, mainly the technology inside the Array. In the process of doing so, the infection overloads existing power conduits before creating new pathways for power to travel. This leads to total power failure in sector systems before coming back online under the influence of infected power. The main eventide of doing this is a complete failure in life-support systems in the Array, which has killed thousands of occupants. Category:Science Fiction Villains Category:Aliens Category:Video Game Villains Category:Game Bosses Category:Terrorists Category:Murderer Category:Enigmatic Category:Nameless Category:Deceased Category:One-Man Army